1 Introduction

The VMware vCenter Operations (VCOPS) Management Suite provides comprehensive visibility and insights into the performance, capacity and health of your infrastructure. vCenter Operations Manager collects performance data from each object at every level of your virtual environment, from individual virtual machines and disk drives to entire clusters and data centers. It stores and analyses the data, and uses that analysis to provide real-time information about problems, or potential problems, anywhere in your virtual environment.

The KEMP Virtual LoadMaster (VLM) operates within the VCOPS architecture to provide load balancing functionality. VCOPS can instantiate a LoadMaster, monitor it and provide detailed statistics and information regarding its health within the VCOPS architecture.

With VCOPS, information can be gathered from the LoadMaster to form aggregated dashboard views combining the resource consumption data that is already natively available, along with statistics relevant to how each VM is performing in the context of the applications that they serve. The LoadMasterâ€™s proximity to virtual application server instances, and its role as an intermediary connection point between clients and VMs, puts it in an ideal location to provide this data to VCOPS for dashboard and other information rendering.

1.1 Document Purpose

The purpose of this document is to describe the various features and functionality that can be used within the VCOPS Manager relating to the KEMP LoadMaster. For further information on VCOPS in general, refer to the VMware documentation.

1.2 Intended Audience

This document is intended to be read by anyone who is interested in finding out how to utilize the VCOPS with the KEMP LoadMaster.

2 Using VCOPS with the LoadMaster

2.1 Prerequisites

Before using VCOPS with the LoadMaster, the RESTful API interface must be switched on in the LoadMaster. This allows VCOPs and the LoadMaster to communicate. To enable the RESTful API interface on the LoadMaster, follow the steps below:

11. Wait for the update to complete. The progress bar will disappear when the update is complete.

The update can take several minutes to complete.

2.3 Add the LoadMaster Adapter

After importing the .pak file, the LoadMaster adapter needs to be added. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Log into the vCenter Operations Manager page at https://<IPAddress>/vcops-custom.

2. In the menu at the top, select ADMIN and SUPPORT.

3. Select the Info tab.

4. Click the Describe button (the cog icon in the Adapters Info section).

5. Click Yes to start the describe process.

6. Click OK to the pop-up message.

7. Reload the page by refreshing the browser. The LoadMaster adapter should appear in the list of adapters.

2.4 Add a LoadMaster Adapter Instance

If you have just added the LoadMaster adapter, wait for a few minutes before adding an instance because it takes time to initiate. If the instance is added too soon, a failure will occur when you save or test the credentials.

An instance of the adapter needs to be created for every Virtual LoadMaster (VLM) to be monitored. To add an instance, follow the steps below:

If vCenter Operations Standard Server is not available to select in the Collector drop-down list it means that the LoadMaster adapter has not initiated yet. If this happens, wait a few minutes and try adding the new adapter instance again.

8. Enter the IP Address of the LoadMaster that you want to collect statistics for.

If the default self-signed certificate of the LoadMaster WUI has been updated with a trusted certificate, a valid subject or subject alternative name from the certificate should be entered in the IP address text box to establish the connection.

9. Enter the Username and Password of the LoadMaster.

The default LoadMaster username is bal.

10. Click OK.

11. Enter an Adapter Instance Name.

12. Click Test.

If the test fails and you are sure the credentials are correct, the instance may have been added too soon after the adapter was added in the Add the LoadMaster Adapter section. If this happens, wait for a few minutes and then add the instance again. Do this by clicking Cancel and following steps 2 to 12 above. There is no need to create the credential instance again if it has already been created. You can select the credential instance from the Credential drop-down list if it has already been created.

The API interface must be enabled on any monitored LoadMasters for this to work. Refer to the Prerequisites section for instructions on how to enable it.

13. When the test is successful, click OK.

Do not click OK unless the test is successful.

14. Click OK again.

2.5 Environment Overview

The environment overview screen provides you with an overview of all of the adapters.

Click ENVIRONMENT > ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW to open the list of adapters.

Refresh the page to see any new instances that have been added.

The environment overview list can be filtered if needed. To filter the list to only show LoadMaster adapter instances, expand Adapter Instances on the left and select LoadMaster Adapter Instance.

2.6 Collection Interval

By default, the statistics get collected by VCOPS every five minutes.

The collection interval can be changed by following the steps below in the ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW screen:

Selecting the Only New Resources check box means that it only checks for new Virtual Services and Real Servers. For example, if you have already discovered the resources initially, and then you add a new Virtual Service or Real Server, you run a discovery again to detect the new resource, but there is no need to detect all resources again. So, selecting the Only New Resources check box speeds up the discovery.

6. Click OK.

7. The discovery results will be displayed.

VIPs are Virtual Services. RSs are Real Servers.

To get more information, double-click the VIP or RS line. Further information will be displayed in the Resources section underneath.

When you select Collect, the Import check box also gets automatically ticked. Ensure that both of these check boxes are ticked.

9. Click OK.

10. Select the LoadMaster instance name on the left to display the Virtual Services and Real Servers for that instance.

2.8 Health Status

On the ENVIRONMENT OVERVIEW screen, different colours can be displayed in the Health column. These are described below.

A green icon means that the resource is up and the health is good. A percentage health rating is also shown. The health rating score is dynamic. For example, if there is a constant connection rate and the rate deviates to an unusual level, an alert will be generated and the health score will be affected.

Yellow, and orange icons are also displayed for lower health scores.

A blue icon with a question mark means that the resource has not been detected yet. Wait for the collection interval to elapse and then refresh the page to see the new health status.

Red icons are displayed when a resource is down.

2.8.1 Health Status Settings

The default health percentage ratings that show the different colour health statuses are in the screenshot above.

The ranges can be modified by selecting ADMIN from the main menu and selecting GLOBAL SETTINGS. The default values will be displayed. Modify the range(s) as needed and click OK.

2.9 View the Health Tree

Statistics can be displayed for at the VLM, Virtual Service and Real Server level. To view the health tree, follow the steps below:

1. Select the relevant resource and click the Show Detail button (graph icon).

The health tree will be displayed. The above screenshot shows two Virtual Services sitting underneath the VLM.

The above screenshot shows a Real Server.

2. To view metrics on any of the resources, select the resource and follow the steps below.

3. The metrics will be displayed in the METRIC SELECTOR section in the bottom left.

If the LoadMaster is running firmware version 7.1-16 or below, some metrics will not be available.

4. To drill-down on the metrics, expand LoadMaster Metrics and Overall metrics.

5. A number of metric options will be shown, for example bits per second. To display one of the metrics, double-click it. A chart will display in the METRIC GRAPH section.

You can zoom in on a specific part of the graph by dragging a box around the section to be magnified.

By default, the graphs show metrics for the last six hours.

6. You can see metrics for the specific Virtual Service(s) and/or Real Server(s) by clicking the relevant resource and clicking Resource Detail (graph icon).

7. You can navigate back to the parent-level view by clicking the LoadMaster icon and clicking Resource Detail (graph icon).

If there are any alerts relating to the resources, an exclamation mark icon will appear on the resource in the health tree. To view the alerts, select the resource and click Show Alerts.

The alerts window will then be displayed.

Double-click the alert to view more information.

All alerts are displayed in the top-right of the page. Hover over the alert health status to view the list of alerts